The increasing bandwidth and reliability of packet networks has reached levels where streaming high quality television content is now possible. For packet-based television services, content providers will likely not send streaming television content for all available channels to all subscribers at the same time. Instead, only the television content for the selected channel will be streamed to the subscriber. As such, the amount of network resources required to service a given number of subscribers is greatly reduced from a scenario where subscribers are simultaneously receiving television content for many channels.
Even though network capacity is increasing, the number of potential subscribers is very large and the television content is growing more data intensive. Subscribers demand high quality television content, which corresponds to lower compression rates and greater bandwidth requirements. Further, the bandwidth required to support high-definition television content is many times that necessary for standard definition television content. Accordingly, there remains a need to conserve the network resources required to provide packet-based television services.
A significant waste of network resources occurs when television content is delivered to a television monitor that is not being viewed. Many subscribers leave their televisions on for long periods of time when no one is home or watching the television. It is also commonplace for subscribers to leave their set top boxes on, even when the television monitor is off. In either case, the television content is being delivered over the packet network to the set top box, thus wasting network resources. When thousands of subscribers are wasting network resources, such waste becomes significant and the packet network must be over built to accommodate the waste. In addition, video content will typically have very high priority in the network so video streams that are not being actively recorded or viewed will preclude or diminish the performance of other services vying for the network bandwidth. As such, there is a need for a technique to control delivery of the television content to conserve network resources when the television content is not being viewed.